The term monism acquires its true meaning in the field of philosophy, more specifically in metaphysics . A philosopher is a monist when he says that the essence of reality is based on a unique and original principle. On the contrary, a philosopher will be a dualist when he says that there is more than one explanatory principle for referring to reality.
In any of its versions, in every monism, it is customary to say that behind the appearance, the plurality in the universe as a whole, there is a common substance. This substance is what makes it possible to explain what all the things that exist are made of.
Monism is a view of reality that has some variants.
Ontological monism refers to a metaphysical thought that affirms that everything that exists (reality as a whole) is formed by a single original element. This element, obviously, can take all kinds of shapes and forms of structure.
The materialist claims that any reality is reduced to something specific. A scientist can be a monist when he claims that everything boils down to atoms. Atoms are arranged in different ways, but everything is made up of atoms. Monism
The spiritualist is quite habitual in thinking about some philosophical doctrines. According to him, everything that exists in reality is a product of the human mind. Consequently, there is only one reality, but it is of a spiritual type.
The anthropologist refers to the philosophical doctrines that claim that human beings can be explained in terms of a single entity or substance, whether material or spiritual.
Platonic philosophy is dualistic and opposes the monistic doctrines of the pre-Socratic philosophers who defended the thesis of a single and original substance to explain nature as a whole. Monism
To refer to the human being, Plato stated that man is a combination of the soul and the body. The body is mortal matter and the soul an immaterial and immortal principle. According to Plato, true knowledge must focus on the spiritual part of the human being and not on his bodily dimension. This dualistic conception had great influence from medieval Christian philosophers, those who also defended the separation between soul and body to explain man.
The debate between monism and dualism has traversed the entire history of Western philosophy and projected itself on theology, law and psychology .
